


i’ll do anything you say, if you say it with your hands

by HeartonFire



Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Light Angst, SO MUCH FLUFF, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 09:00:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20598146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartonFire/pseuds/HeartonFire
Summary: Frank brings Karen to the Liebermans' for dinner, and they are convinced to stay the night, but there's only one bed, and Sarah isn't about to let Frank sleep on the couch.





	i’ll do anything you say, if you say it with your hands

She was laughing. The lipstick had worn off two glasses ago, but Karen’s lips were still red, stained dark by the wine she was drinking. Her hair was practically glowing, the lamp behind her making her look like an angel. 

She must have felt Frank looking at her, because she glanced over at him, smile widening when she caught his eye. Her eyes were a little glassy, shining with a happiness he wasn’t sure he had seen on her before. It looked good.

“Glad you finally found the time to come over, buddy,” David said, pressing another bottle of beer into Frank’s hand. “You guys should just stay over. Safer than driving back to the city tonight.”

On any other night, Frank would have called him an idiot and refused to stay, but he was pleasantly buzzed, and he didn’t want to risk Karen’s safety.

“Fine. You have a guest room?”

“Sure do. I’ll let Sarah know. She’ll be thrilled her new bestie is staying the night.”

The two women did look awfully cozy, sitting together on the couch, giggling about something. You’d never know they had just met, but he was sure that was partly due to the two bottles of wine they had split.

He had tried to get out of this so many times. He had told David that Karen was busy, that he hadn’t seen her in a while, that she wouldn’t want to come, but he was relentless. Or, to be more exact, Sarah was relentless. She had somehow put together that Karen was his “maybe,” after everything that happened at the hotel and whatever David told her later, and she insisted on meeting her. 

Frank tried to give Karen a way out, when he realized he had to at least ask, or Sarah would never let this go. If she said no, he could honestly say that that’s what she said, and it would be over.

But then, she said yes, with a smile that nearly knocked him over. He had been so sure that she would think it was too weird, or feel too awkward, that she would walk away and never come back, but she had just smiled and asked when they were going.

She was still laughing at something Sarah had said. Everything was a little fuzzy around the edges. Everything but her. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her, light and free and definitely a little bit drunk. 

David went over to whisper to Sarah, who looked like a kid on Christmas morning. She squeezed Karen’s hand and stood, handing her glass to David.

“I’m going to go make up the guest bed for you guys. Be right back.” Her voice was thick, in that way it had been the day she kissed him. She made her way upstairs and Frank could hear shuffling above them.

“I’ll go check on the kids,” David said, hurrying after her. That was bullshit, Frank knew. Leo and Zach were too old to be checked on, and Frank had a feeling he knew what this was about.

“We’re staying over?” Karen said, tilting her head at him with a soft smile.

“Yeah, I’ll take the couch, don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried, Frank.” She patted the couch beside her. He sat gingerly, beer sweating in his hand. He looked down at the condensation that was dripping over his fingers, because he couldn’t look at her. “Are you?”

It took him a second to process what she was asking. “Worried about what?”

“We can share the bed,” she said slowly, and he could feel her eyes on him. “I don’t think Sarah will let you take the couch, honestly.” 

He glanced at her, watching the blush rise over her neck and up to her forehead. That pale skin of hers was giving something away, but he didn’t know quite what it was. 

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think she meant to say it, but…” She trailed off, as David and Sarah tramped back down the stairs. Frank wondered if they were being deliberately loud, in case he and Karen were, what? Kissing? Making out in the middle of their living room? Slim chance of that. 

“I think it’s just about bedtime,” Sarah said brightly. “There’s clean sheets on the bed, and towels on the dresser.” She took the beer out of Frank’s hands, over his protests, and shepherded them both upstairs. “Night, you two!”

She and David looked altogether too pleased to be closing the door on the two of them, and Frank wondered if he had just made a huge mistake. 

“See?” Karen said, still smiling gently at him. “I’m a quiet sleeper, I promise. No sleepwalking or talking or snoring or anything.”

That wasn’t exactly what Frank was worried about, but he nodded anyway. There was no way out of this except through, and he could get through it. It was his fault they were in this situation, and he wasn’t going to make it worse by being weird about it. He could share a bed with her. They were friends. They would still be friends. Nothing had to change.

But there was still something in the back of his mind, something driving in like a nail between his eyes. It might have been the beer, but he knew it wasn’t. 

“You were saying, downstairs?”

Karen blinked at him, blue eyes wide and dark in the dim light. “I was?”

“You said Sarah told you something she didn’t mean to say.”

The flush returned, slowly spreading over her face as she bit her lip. “Oh, uh, nothing.” All the lightness had disappeared now, with the door closed, leaving the two of them truly alone for the first time since that day in the hospital. They had kept themselves separate, held themselves apart. They always met in public, at coffee shops or bars, with lots of other people around. It seemed safer somehow, more anonymous, with no danger of crossing lines or blurring boundaries.

Now, here, all the lines were sliding together, and Frank wasn’t sure he knew where to stop. He had changed everything, inviting her here. And now, she was looking at him with those eyes that had always drawn him in, from the first time he met her. 

“You sure?”

She wobbled a little, and Frank reached for her, just to steady her. The touch of her skin against his fingers sent a spark crackling over his skin. His grip tightened around her wrist and she looked down. Frank felt a little like he was floating through a dream. The only thing holding him to the earth was Karen, just like she always did.

“What did she say, Karen?” His voice had dropped lower, husky with everything he was still trying desperately to hold back, even as he couldn’t keep from holding onto her.

Karen was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, but when she managed to look at him, he almost thought he saw all those same feelings reflecting right back at him, shadowed in the blue of her eyes. 

“She said that you told her to find something she cared about, to get her through when she thought David was dead.” She cleared her throat, blush deepening to a bright red. “She said that I was what got you through it, that I was the thing you cared about.” Frank’s hand fell away from her, and she looked down again. He felt the loss of her instantly, like a physical ache. “Was she right?”

“Yeah.” The word slipped out before he could stop it, but it was the truth. “Yeah. She was.”

He could feel the heat of her, so close he could touch her again, but he couldn’t just do that, with his confession hanging in the air between them.

“Frank?” Karen’s hand came up to cup his jaw. She was trembling a little. He closed his eyes at the sensation, and he was lost in the feeling of her, the smell of her. 

He clasped a hand over hers, holding it to his cheek. All the fuzziness of the beers was cleared away by the touch of her skin against his.   
“I care about you too,” she whispered, and his eyes opened to find her staring through him in that way she had always done. She knew him, better than anyone, and she was still here. “You know I care about you, right?”

“I know.” He did. He had known for a long time, since long before he had any reason to think she could care about him, but this was different. This wasn’t just a picture she was shoving in his face, or the tears he saw in her eyes every time he said goodbye. She was here, she had come here with him. She knew what this meant to him, and she came anyway. After everything they had been through, she was here, and she cared about him, and she was telling him so. All the things he had worried about and wondered about and dreamed about were right here, in front of him. She was right here. 

He couldn’t hold himself back any longer. He leaned closer, just touching his lips to hers. It was soft, and gentle, and everything he had told himself he wasn’t anymore. For her, he could be. He wanted to be.

She let out a whimper and her other hand came up to wrap around his neck. Her body pressed up against his, soft and warm and everything he had hoped for and convinced himself he could never have. He could still taste the wine on her lips, the taste of it on her tongue overwhelming all his senses.

Frank could have stayed there, holding her close enough to feel her heart pounding against his, but he could already feel his body responding, and he was not about to have their first time together be in David and Sarah’s guest bedroom.

“Karen?” he mumbled, dipping his head to kiss her neck. She arched into him, a low moan rumbling through her. “Let’s get some sleep.”

She nodded, pulling him back up to kiss him again. There was a question in her eyes, an uncertainty he knew was his fault. He had appeared and disappeared from her life too many times for her to fully trust him. He was going to have to fix that, and he had so many ideas of how to do it.

He took her hands and led her over to the bed to sit down. “I want to do this right, with you.”

“So, let’s take it slow.” She smiled at him again, and all the fears rising in his chest settled back down with one look at her. She had always had that power over him. He couldn’t explain it, but it meant everything to him. She meant everything to him.

Karen settled back against the headboard, sliding under the covers, still dressed, and Frank followed suit. It should have been awkward, but something he hadn’t even realized was there had released in his chest and he wrapped his arm around her, settling into the soft mattress and falling asleep faster than he had in a long time.

He didn’t wake until the light was already pouring through the windows into the room. He had been half-afraid he had dreamed the whole thing, but there she was, still curled against him, breaths deep and slow. He felt warm and sleepy, and he was tempted to go back to sleep, but he could hear the Liebermans moving around downstairs and he knew they had to get up soon, or he’d never hear the end of it. As it was, Sarah was going to be insufferable for engineering this whole thing.

Karen groaned as she stirred, hand coming up to hold her head. She rolled over onto her back, clenching her eyes shut as soon as she opened them.

“Remind me not to drink with Sarah ever again.”

Frank chuckled. “Deal.”

She snuggled closer, burying her face in his chest, and it was hard to believe how far they had come in one night. He squeezed her closer, until she giggled and squirmed against him. The sound warmed him from the inside out.

“Let’s get you home,” he said, and she stilled, looking up at him with a wicked smile on her face. 

“About time, Castle.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! It's been a minute since I've posted anything, but I needed some more fluff in my life, and I'm hoping you did too. Comments and kudos are always appreciated. <3


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